Estes Park News

Gun-related recall efforts in Colorado carry risks

Gov. John Hickenlooper: 448,227 signatures are needed to force a recall, based on 25 percent of the votes cast in his district in the last election. (Craig F. Walker, Denver Post file)

Gun-rights advocates furious over gun bills in the Colorado legislature have launched recall efforts against the state Senate president and a rural House lawmaker, and are talking about going after the governor and other Democratic politicians.

Yet the state's most hardball gun-rights advocate isn't sure a recall is the best strategy.

That dynamic underscores the strong hand Republicans believe the new gun-control laws have dealt them — but also the peril they face in going forward with recalls.

Dudley Brown, director of Rocky Mountain Gun Owners, thinks the time and money would be better spent taking out Democrats in swing districts in the 2014 election.

Sen. Evie Hudak, Westminster: 18,962 signatures are needed to force a recall, based on 25 percent of the votes cast in her district in the last election. (Daniel Petty, Denver Post file)

To force an election, recall organizers have to collect petition signatures based on 25 percent of the total vote in the last election in that district.

In the case of Gov. John Hickenlooper, who has signed three of the gun bills into law, that means submitting almost 450,000 signatures, a number Brown brings up whenever someone suggests recalling the governor.

"I'm like, 'Sure, that makes a lot of sense. Do you have $5 million to get the recall on the ballot?' " Brown said. "We don't even have a (Republican) candidate for 2014, so now we're going to try to push the election up to 150 days from now. Explain that logic to me."

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It's a different story with Senate President John Morse of Colorado Springs, Brown said, because only 7,178 signatures are needed to launch a recall election. Two separate recall efforts have been filed against Morse with the secretary of state, though, which could confuse the effort.

Morse, who introduced the most controversial gun bill — one that would have assigned liability for assault weapons had it passed — said he's not worried.

Rep. Mike McLachlan, Durango: 10,586 signatures are needed to force a recall, based on 25 percent of the votes cast in his district in the last election. (Denver Post file)

"If making Colorado safer from gun violence costs me my political career, it's an amazingly small price to pay," he said.

The first recall petition against Morse, who is term-limited after 2014, says in part: "This elected official is not properly representing the people whom have elected him. ... We shall not stand for a representative who stands to destroy our constitution."

The second petition accuses Morse in part of limiting public debate in the Senate, where many Coloradans who showed up to testify at gun hearings were turned away because of time constraints.

No recall has been threatened for House Speaker Mark Ferrandino, and Brown admitted that's because his Denver district is so heavily Democratic.

Senate President John Morse, Colorado Springs: 7,178 signatures are needed to force a recall, based on 25 percent of the votes cast in his district in the last election. (AAron Ontiveroz, Denver Post file)

A recall effort is underway against state Rep. Mike McLachlan of Durango, which would require 10,586 signatures. Constituents complain that he never campaigned on gun control but voted with metro-area Democrats.

Another recall, against Sen. Evie Hudak, a Westminster Democrat, is expected to be filed soon with the secretary of state, according to Nick Andrasik, spokesman for the Basic Freedom Defense Fund. That effort would require almost 19,000 signatures to force a recall election in a key Jefferson County swing district.

The Basic Freedom Defense Fund also is behind one of the Morse recalls.

"We thought we weren't being listened to by our elected officials, and we thought, 'How can we get their attention?' " Andrasik said. "It seemed that recalling them would be a great way to do that."

Political consultant Katy Atkinson, a Denver Republican who primarily works on ballot measures, said recalls are extremely difficult, but there is so much anger over the gun bills that the efforts might be successful. Unlike Brown, she said it would be an "awful embarrassment" for gun-rights activists if the efforts fail.

Two groups have filed efforts to fight the recall against Morse and McLachlan, according to secretary-of-state records. The name of one group is "A Whole Lot of People for John Morse."

"It's a hard call"

Around the Capitol, Republicans have expressed reservations about the recall effort.

"You want to strike while the iron is hot, but at the same time you don't want to waste money," said Sen. Greg Brophy, R-Wray. "It's a hard call."

Still, Brophy said, the recall effort might "move the dial" on GOP efforts to take back the Senate in 2014. Before this session, Republicans and political consultants believed Democrats were vulnerable in next year's Senate election.

Two of the most controversial bills, assigning liability on assault weapons and banning concealed weapons on campuses, were killed by their Senate Democratic sponsors after hearings in the House and Senate that drew hundreds of gun-rights activists to the Capitol.

Hickenlooper signed three bills into law: requiring universal background checks, charging gun customers for the costs of those checks and limiting ammunition magazines to 15 rounds.

Two other bills, concerning online training for concealed- handgun permits and taking guns away from certain domestic-violence offenders, have passed the Senate and are awaiting debate in the House.

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